Kale and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette – words cannot describe how good this salad is. This bright and fresh kale salad is a great way to start loving kale.

So I’ll admit this, while I love my salads, I’m not one that goes out of her way to buy kale and make these “green goddess” salads. Nope that’s just not me. No matter how much people rave about how good kale is and how good it is for you, I kind of disagree because I’d rather eat bacon, let’s just put it that way.

Now bacon I can rave about for days. But sometimes in your life, and I mean just sometimes, like once in your lifetime kind of thing, you come across a kale salad that makes you smile and think to yourself that yeah I can eat kale salad and enjoy it.

Well I had one of these riveting experiences at Moxie’s when I ordered this kale and quinoa salad a few weeks ago. While I have no idea what possessed me to order such an unheard of type of lunch for me, I did.

Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I was going to be stranded in a car for the next 24 hours and didn’t want a heavy meal, or perhaps the stars were aligned just right, and my inner goddess said to me that we can do this, and so I did. I can’t believe I just wrote my inner goddess, but it’s done.

When the salad came, it looked good and I thought to myself that yeah I can do this and I felt proud of myself for ordering such a healthy meal. But then I took a bite and fell in love.

I might have even groaned out loud from pleasure and muttered stuff under my breath because hubs took his fork and started eating my salad. Now you have to realize here, I’m a food blogger, I’ve tasted and tried many salads in my day, so it’s hard to surprise me with something when it comes to food.

I loved the simplicity of this salad, I loved the little pieces of chicken and the sweet from the currants (I used raisins in mine), and the saltiness from the cheese. And I loved the kale and the quinoa. There I said it. I loved the taste of the kale. I think it was the vinaigrette, let’s not fool ourselves.

I vowed to myself that day that I was going to try and recreate that salad some day soon as its taste was carved in my brain. Well that day finally came, so here we are, and here I am sharing with you a kale and quinoa salad recipe that I think is worth eating and enjoying.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about bacon, and I was so tempted to add bacon to this salad, but then I had to stop myself and try and not ruin a good thing. There’s time for bacon. But for now, let’s eat kale.

LOOKING FOR MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES? TRY THESE:

• Kale Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette
• Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes Corn and Kale Bake
• Moroccan Chicken Couscous

If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!

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Kale and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

4.5 from 20 votes

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 35 mins

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Serves: 4

Print Pin Rate

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette - words cannot describe how good this salad is. This bright and fresh kale salad is a great way to start loving kale.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup quinoa dry
• 1 cup water
• 1 lb chicken breasts cooked, skinless and boneless, chopped small
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp pepper or to taste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 5 cups kale chopped very small
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice fresh
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper ground
• 1 tsp oregano dried
• 1 tsp honey

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Start by combining 1 cup of water with the dry quinoa in a saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Cover the saucepan and reduce the heat to low, let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the quinoa is tender. If there's any water left, make sure you drain the quinoa first.
• While the quinoa is cooking, you can prepare the chicken. Add the olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add the chicken pieces, season with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook for about 8 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink but it's just starting to brown a bit. Remove chicken from skillet and let cool.
• In a large bowl toss together the kale, cooked chicken, quinoa, sunflower seeds and raisins.

Lemon Vinaigrette

• Whisk together all the ingredients for the lemon vinaigrette in a small bowl. Adjust salt and pepper as necessary.
• Pour the vinaigrette over the kale salad and toss really well. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Recipe Notes

Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

 

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 514kcal (26%)Carbohydrates: 33g (11%)Protein: 35g (70%)Fat: 28g (43%)Saturated Fat: 4g (25%)Cholesterol: 76mg (25%)Sodium: 852mg (37%)Potassium: 1087mg (31%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 7g (8%)Vitamin A: 8450IU (169%)Vitamin C: 108.5mg (132%)Calcium: 233mg (23%)Iron: 3.5mg (19%)

Course:Salad

Cuisine:American

Keyword:kale and quinoa salad, kale salad, lemon vinaigrette

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